The Milwaukee county district attorney’s office has brought criminal [tag]misconduct[/tag] charges against Terry Gaouette, the former CFO of the Milwaukee Public Museum. He is charged with four felonies related to illegally transferring endowment funds and falsifying records. He could receive up to 28 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.

Gaouette was the museum’s CFO until April 2005, and was the acting COO at one point. The financial problems of the museum were made public in May 2005, and a short time later it was made public that the endowment fund was drained. Gaouette admitted to members of the media that he did authorize transfers from the endowment fund, but claimed that they were done to keep the museum afloat. (The endowment fund reportedly did NOT allow such transfers for operating expenses.)